USB to RS485 PC Adapter Installation

The USB-485M is a 2-wire USB to RS-485 serial communication adapter for RS485 use. It does not require an external power supply or complicated configuration.

It has a Type A (plug) USB connector for the computer side and a universal female RJ45/RJ12 modular connector. This will accept RJ12 and RJ45 plugs. The USB-485M supports multiple baud rates and is USB V2.0 Compliant.

Installing the DriverDo NOT connect the USB-485M to your PC before installing the driver file.

Go to the Automation Direct website and download the latest drivers for this device. I would not use the mini CD that came with the converter because it may be out of date.USB-485M Serial Converter Support Resources

Download and extracted the zip file. (Right click on the zip file and select Extract All…. )
If you have a 64bit computer double click on the following file:
CP210xVCPInstaller_x64.exe
If you have a 32bit computer double click on this file:
CP210xVCPInstaller_x86.exe

If you are unsure as to 32 bit or 64 bit computer then go to control panel and look under system. Under System type it will display either a 32-bit Operating or 64-bit Operating system.
Alternatively on Windows 7 you can click start and right click on Computer.
Selecting properties will call up the system information for you.

This will now start the installation of the CP210x USB to UART Bridge Driver. Select Next.

You must accept the license agreement before the software will install. Select ‘I accept this agreement’ and hit Next.

You will now get a message that the installation is complete. The Silicon Laboratories Driver is now installed. Click Finish.

We will now configure the device driver for our hardware.Connect the USB-485M to your PC.The driver software installation will begin by searching for the CP2103 USB to UART Bridge Controller. It will start by searching windows update…

Once the software has been configured a message will be displayed as follows. If it cannot find the driver software you can manually select the x64 (64bit) or x86 (32bit) folders from the downloaded driver files.

You can now call up device manager and view the ports on your computer. The Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge is on communication port 5.

We are now ready to connect to our equipment. Since this is a serial device and is a 1 : N connection. This means that we will have a master and at least one slave unit. All communication must have the same parameters when communicating. What separates the communication is that each slave is assigned an unique number.
Example:

Device

Computer ‘Master’

Solo Process Controller
‘Slave’

Do-More PLC
‘Slave’

Additional Devices
‘Slaves’

Station Address / Unit number

N/A

1

2

…

Baud Rate

9600

9600

9600

9600

Data Bits

8

8

8

8

Parity

Even

Even

Even

Even

Stop Bits

1

1

1

1

Protocol is the actual communication (Information format that is transferred) that takes place over the network. (Master to Slaves)

If you’re like most of my readers, you’re committed to learning about technology. Numbering systems used in PLC’s are not difficult to learn and understand. We will walk through the numbering systems used in PLCs. This includes Bits, Decimal, Hexadecimal, ASCII and Floating Point.

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